Yesterday, the New York Rangers, traded their captain, Ryan Callahan to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Martin St. Louis...

The last Rangers captain to be traded was Mark Messier (the rights for) in 2003 to the San Jose Sharks for a 4th Rd pick...That pick became...Ryan Callahan...Just an interesting fact for ya...

So, from what I've seen from most Rangers fans on twitter, and blogs, and what I've heard on NHL radio, they are happy about this trade...Yes, Martin St. Louis at 38 years old, still scores...He's always been a talented offensive player...Everyone keeps comparing their offensive numbers...

Well why is a little guy like ST. Louis able to keep scoring? Well, he plays little defense, while Callahan is a defensive thorn in people's sides...Callahan, checks...Finishes every check...Drives star players crazy, by running them into the boards...Callahan blocks shots...He blocks them with precision...Like it's a fucking art form...And if he has to, he'll drop the gloves...

St. Louis has always shied away from these parts of the game...But the constant talk is about scoring...Well people, there is a lot more to Hockey then just scoring...

But for me it's not just about the difference between the two players...Lets look at the trade...

St. Louis wanted out of Tampa Bay because his feelings were hurt, because Lightning GM Steve Yzerman who was the GM for team Canada, didn't pick St. Louis for the Olympic team...(St. Louis did go, as he took injured teammate, Steven Stamkos' spot) Then St. Louis said the only team he wanted to go to was the Rangers...Wanting to reunite with old teammate, and fellow old man, Brad Richards...

So why the hell did Rangers (overrated) GM Glen Sather give up so much for a 38 year old guy with another year on his contract? So much you ask? Besides Callahan, who is ten years younger, Sather gave up a 1st round and a 2nd round draft pick...If Callahan resigns with Tampa Bay, that 2nd round pick becomes a first...

What the fuck!?! St. Louis is a 38 year old with hurt feeling only willing to go to your team...Why give up the two high picks along with your Captain? Yzerman doesn't like, tell him to go screw...San Jose was interested in Callahan...Talk to them...Tell Yzerman San Jose is giving more, or asking for less, or both...These GM's always say it's a business...Well treat that way...Too bad is Yzerman is stuck with a 38 year old who is sad, and only plays one part of the game...Not your problem!

And why were the Rangers shopping Callahan? They couldn't reach a contract extension with him and his agent...Everyone says he was asking for too much...Why were they saying this? Because all they look at is scoring...Not the everything else that is just as important...And maybe it was bit high...In the end, the talk was 6 years, near $6 million a year...But the thing that killed the deal for Sather was Callahan wanting a no trade clause...Really? The captain of your team wants to finish his career with you and that's no good...People say players should give the team a "hometown discount," that they should show that loyalty...Why the fuck shouldn't the team show it as well!?!

As a lifelong Rangers fan, I hate this trade...As a Callahan fan, I hate this trade...As some one who tries to use common sense, I think Sather should be fired for getting raped by Yzerman, who St. Louis painted in a corner...

Long term, the Rangers lose big time...Short term, the Rangers lose...St. Louis may add offense, but makes them softer, and takes a away a key defensive asset...And in the Spring, he turns 39 when the Rangers will be trying to make huge playoff run...I recall Brad Richards (33) looking old and out of gas last year in the playoffs...So out of gas, he was scratched for the last 3 games...

Martin St. Louis is not the missing link who will save the Rangers and take them to a Cup...But those high draft picks could have been, skating beside Callahan...

So this past week started with taking Molly to Dentist...We'll be dropping even more money into repairs to her baby teeth...The teeth grinding she does has done more damage...It seems her bottom teeth kick her upper teeth's ass...10 upper teeth need repairs...She has ground the enamel away and weakened them seriously...Can't wait for that fun in January!

After the dentist office Monday morning, we had a great day together...It was just great having some quality, one on one time...Oh, with Finnegan the puppy in the mix...Damn dog kept stealing her hash browns!

Wednesday He was dropped off at the Vet's to get his Cleft lip/nose/pallet fixed...He also got his nuts chopped...We picked him up after 5 in the evening...And the poor guy is stuck in a cone until Tuesday, to make sure he doesn't rip out his stitches...

He hates that fucking cone...Been at war with it all weekend!

The rest of the week was crazy...Just a blur...By Friday evening my ass was dragging...Just in time to get up another Saturday morning before 7:00AM to take my oldest daughter 45 minutes away to her Honor band rehearsal...Followed by morning concert...Then back there again for the evening concert...Then the snow started falling...Of course!

-I had little time for college football...But I did get to enjoy the UCLA / ASU game...The PAC-12 is for real people...Lots of good talent, lots of good teams...Unlike the Big-10...And yes, unlike the SEC that actually has just a few good teams...

Hey Florida how does losing to Georgia Southern taste!?! Georgia Southern won 26-20...They completed zero passes for zero yards, yet they racked up 429 yards on the Gators defense...Florida, you gave up 429 yards to Georgia Southern, a team that can't pass...That didn't pass...You knew they were going to run the ball, and you gave up 429 yards...They should just burn "The Swamp" to the ground...Fire everyone...Take away all the scholarships...That is the definition of sucks!

-Now let me move onto rankings...We all know college football has some serious flaws...None more then the whole ranking system...I'm a die-hard Notre Dame fan, so let me use the Irish for this example...

Notre Dame isn't even ranked, yet they beat USC, ASU, and Mich State, all ranked well ahead of them...They lost to ranked Oklahoma...They lost to Pitt (horrible loss)...They lost to then ranked 17 rival Michigan...Yes, Michigan fell apart after that game...They really suck! And watching every game, I can say this, ND could have beaten Pitt, Michigan, and Oklahoma...If played again, they could take MSU again, but it would be tight, as usual...They could Take USC again...ASU would take them...

Notre Dame is just one of many examples that prove the theory of, on any given day, any team can beat another...Which makes pre-season rankings idiotic because until two teams take the field you really have no idea what you are getting...Even with a so-called playoff, you still have to have a system to rank teams...But it's clear the current formula is crap...Michigan State plays great defense...But they also play a weak-ass Big-10 schedule...Ohio State is undefeated and has hung around the top 4 all year...But their Big-10 schedule, combined with their non-conference schedule is an embarrassment...

I have already lost any passion for the NFL...Now I find myself the most frustrated I have ever been with College Football...And I have always loved Saturdays in the Fall...

-Let me change gears to a bit of Hockey...We have heard and talked a ton about head shots, and brain injuries in Football...Now finally a hockey player is speaking up, and making a bit of noise about it...

New York Rangers winger, Rick Nash returned to the lineup this week after missing over a month from a concussion after a head shot...This one just months removed from a late season concussion last year...

"We’re all in this together.” Nash said...

"I understand how it happens, the game is so fast, things happen quickly, and I know that I’ve had some hits that have been close calls, but we all have to take responsibility for changing some of the things we do out there."

Nash continued...

"I understand that we don’t want to have huge suspensions for plays that are spontaneous and I’m OK with that, but the players as a group and the union have to take more responsibility for stopping these kinds of hits. It’s up to the guys to have more respect for each other and our careers.”

“Headshots are a serious problem in the game. You see them all the time, something has to change.”

I have to agree, and I'm glad he said it...Yes, I'm a Rangers fan...And yes, I've always been a fan of Nash...But that has nothing to do with it...We have seen plenty of evidence of how concussions, and head trauma have affected football players...Hockey needs to realize they are looking down the same barrel...

Well, it looks like a couple people are ready for some finger poppin' good times...Here we are, day after the 4th of July...Do you still have all your fingers? I hope every one had fun celebrating the 4th...That said, if your city/town is one of those shit-dick places that did fireworks on July 3rd, or 5th, fuck off...You celebrate on the 4th...Do the firewworks on the 4th...You see this more an more...Just like those asshole places that have their Halloween trick-or-treat on the Saturday before...Fuck you...You trick-or-treat on Halloween!

You don't ever see anyone or anywhere celebrate New Years on December 29th or January 3rd...Why? Because there is onlt one fucking New Years, just like there is one Halloween, and one 4th of July...Come on America, lets get our shit together...

Next up in the Finger Pop...NHL teams are all trying to find salary cap space, while holding onto key players, and landing quality and high profile free agents...There is a hot term now in the NHL...The "Compliance Buyout." This lets teams string out a percentage of a players contract, when waiving him, and it not killing their cap number...

In Philadelphia the Flyers dropped big money, $28 million to buyout the contracts of Ilya Bryzgalov and Daniel Briere...Then what did they do...Get themsleves another big contract on the books, signing 33 year old Vincent Lecavalier to a 5 year, $22.5 million contract....I think 5 years for a 33 year old who has spent a lot of time injured the last couple years is dumb, but good for Vinny...He's going to be sitting pretty making his $4.5 million a year from Philly...But on top of that is his buyout from Tampa Bay, who wanted/needed to get him off the books...From the Lightning he'll get $2.3 million a year for the next 14 seasons...WOW!

And and Flyers fans don't get too excited...Your team still has some holes to fill...Which should be fun to see since Lecavalier's contract just took them $300,000 over the salary cap!

While that buy out mess, and signing made me laugh...And sick...My favorite so far, and I doubt it will be topped is the New York Islanders buying out Goalie Rick DiPietro...Seven years ago GM Garth Snow thought it would be a good idea to give this average goalie a 15 year, $67.5 million contract...Since then DiPietro has either sucked, been injured, or both...Well, the Islanders have decided to finally rid themselves of this douche...To do so, they used the Compliance Buyout...DiPietro will be given $1.5 million annually for the next 16 years....

Yeah, Lecavalier will be earning more, but at least he put together a really good career so far...DiPietro has just blown...And I love that Snow had to finally admit he made a huge mistake...If I was teh owner I'd make him hold a press conference stating that he is sorry, and that he is a fucking idiot....They have to pay a guy $1.5 million a year, for 16 years, to go the fuck away!

How I wouldn't love a job that I could suck at, and the boss just finally breaks down and says, 'You're fucking killing us...Here, I'll pay you $1.5 million a year for, lets say 16 years...All you have to do is go the fuck away!'

Where the fuck do I sign!?!

Surprisingly, the New York Rangers didn't use the Compliance Buyout on Brad Richards, as many expected...GM Glen Sather says he expects Richards (33 yrs. old) to bounce back...So the Rangers will take the $9 million cap hit this season...Many Rangers fans, myself included, don't like this move, because it is giving the Rangers very little room to hold onto key players, and make any splash in free agency...

The Pittsburgh Pengins signed 26 year old defenseman Kris Letang to an eight year $58 million extension...It's not a horrible signing, but I'm just not a fan of going that long with anyone...But there is another reason this deal is risky...With this extension, the Penguins will have nearly half of their salary cap space locked up in 4 players...Letang, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and James Neal...Those 4 fuckers better stay healthy and produce or your team is gonna be in trouble...

Then comes the Boston Bruins who were talking to teams during the draft about moving 21 year old and former #2 overall pick, Tyler Seguin...Well, Thursday the Bruins sent Seguin, Rich Peverley, and minor-leaguer Ryan Button to Dallas for Loui Eriksson, Reilly Smith (22), 23 year old Matt Fraser, and Joe Morrow (20), the key piece Dallas got from Pittsburgh when they traded Brenden Morrow...Eriksson(27) gives the Bruins an elite left-handed winger who can play either side, and knows how to shoot...He's posted 70 points in each of the last 3 seasons...He has 3 years left on his $25.5 million, 6 year deal, which will be a smaller cap hit what Seguin would have been...The Bruins added a lot of youth and potential, and a proven player...

They also rid themselves of what they felt could be a major problem...According to "sources around the team," the Bruins had to have a sit down with Seguin during their playoff series with Toronto...They questioned his commitment to the team, and wanted him to start acting like a "Professional"...One report says Seguin showed up to the Air Canada Centre wearing the same close for 3 straight days...The 21 year old has earned quite the rep for partying since his 19 year old rookie season when he helped the Bruins win the Cup...and the rep isn't that good, based on this tweet from the Cask 'N Flagon...

"The Boston nightclub scene will be a better place without #tylerseguin demanding entry.#TradeSeguin"

The Bruins have another pressing issue to get to as well....

The contract extension people are waiting to see done in Boston, is goalie Tuuka Rask...The speculation is saying the 26 year old could be looking at a deal in the area of $56 million over 8 years...Smart moving taking that 1 year deal last season and proving yourself...Rask and the Bruins both gambled in those negotiations, and it looks like Rask won...

Welcome to another installment of the Friday Finger Pop, where not just two fingers, but two finger popable asses are always better than one!

The first bit of news today, The New York Rangers have signed former Vancouver Canucks coach, Alain Vigneault to be their next head coach...I'm not sure how I feel about this...He's not a bad coach, but I really disliked his teams in Vancouver...They really annoyed me...But he's got to do better having Lundqvist as his goalie, instead of the dead weight Roberto Luongo that kept holding the Canucks back!

Then I saw Mark Messier, Special Assistant to GM Glen Sather was very he, and his no coaching experience, didn't get the job...He has said he's not sure of his future now with the Rangers...Wow, always known as a tough guy in his playing days, and now he's gonna get a sad and hurt, because he didn't get a job that he wasn't qualified for...You know what Mess, go do what all the other coaches did....Earn your fucking stripes! Being a great player doesn't make you a great...That's a whole new thing you need to learn...

Next up...Thursday night I was at my daughter's softball game...She's on a 12 and under team, in a league for beginning players...Their first couple years in, learning the game...Well, her team lost this game before they even stepped on the field...They saw the other teams pitcher warming up, and they were done for...This girl was throwing it 50 mph...The team was bigger, and you could see they had plenty of experience...Then the game started...when they made an out, the whole team did a little cheer, that ended with them slapping their feet...I was totally annoyed...I don't know if this is part of softball, but it came across as taunting....They did it on outs...They had one for if one of them walked...Got an RBI...everything...It was really cunty...And I wasn't the only adult who felt this way...

But then we saw how their parents behaved, and reacted...Oh, I see...They're shitty little cunts, because their parents and coaches are assholes...Oh, and then from a bit of parental investigating, these little twats, were 13, 14, year olds...Taunting and getting joy out of lying about what they were, and beating up on a league of 10, 11, and 12 year old beginners...Out teams coach intends to get them booted by the end of the weekend, and has already asked for birth certificates for every girl on that team...The parents of these kids, on this team need to be beaten...And the coaches should be hung....Too harsh? Too bad!

Then there was the ump....What a douche...His strike zone was from the top of the head to the ankles...My daughter, got hit by a pitch, walked and struck out...Her strike out...two of the pitches, the catcher caught on a hop off the plate...How the fuck is that a strike ass-cunt?!?

I hate getting like this over youth sports, but when there are adults that are willing to be such shitheads, it has to be called out...If I didn't Molly, and Little Beeze there with me, I would have had a lot of shit to say, to a lot of people... DOUCHEBAGS!

Moving on to the "News" media, and the idiot talking heads involved in it...I've never liked Russell Brand...But then this week he was on MSNBC's Morning Joe...Right away he made co-host, Mika Brzezinski uncomfortable...She has always been the show's bitch, but around Brand she flustered...He called them out for sucking at their jobs...He called them out for being rude...And he took over the show, and made them look like fools, and how easy their silly job is...He closed by calling Brzezinski "Shaft Grasper" as she couldn't stop grasping a bottle on the desk...Check out the video...

Seriously, never liked the guy...But that was great!

-The Miami Heat won the NBA Championship...Don't worry, Cleveland is still standing...Yes, many people here still hate LeBron James, but whatever...It's the NBA...This is Cleveland in June...The Indians are playing well, and most of sports talk is yapping about how bad the Browns will be, and if the new owner is going to end up in jail!

Basketball sucks ass! Watch the rest of the Chicago and Boston Stanley Cup Final...Series is tied at 2 and these two teams are putting on a hell of a series...They love playing OT games!

Ain't that the truth! Might be what the Chicago Blackhawks are saying to the LA Kings...The 'Hawks have taken a 2-0 lead on the Kings and will now head to LA to play games 3 and 4...Chicago's speed and skill has shown some weaknesses in the Kings game...And Goalie Johnathan Quick who has been so impressive through the playoffs, suddenly looks very human...I expect the Kings to take one game at home, but the way this series looks, I think it may be over in 5...That would be good for me since months ago I was saying Chicago would be in the Finals...

In the East, Boston went up 1-0 after shutting out the Penguins...Pittsburgh seem unsure of their goalies, and they got out of their own game, and tried to get physical with the Bruins...That's not a battle they're going to win...

And of course, where there is Penguins forward Matt Cooke, there is contraversy...Cooke who was a decent, player with some skill, at some point decided to be a shithead and make his career all about trying to injure people...Cooke started with knee shots...Then moved up to head shots...So when he called for this penalty Saturday, no one should have been surprised...

Yet, Penguins fans were unhappy...Odd...Later, the Bruins Brad Marchand made a similar hit on James Neal, and Boston fan didn't seem to get up in arms about the call...But it was the reaction from a Pittsburgh fan...A Pittsburgh citizen, that really caught people's attention on the internet...Meet Jordan Kuruc...

Wow!

I have said some awful shit to people online...Hell, I've said awful shit to their face...But this douchebag didn't seem to get why people were so mad about this tweet...And then when he apologized, and deleted it, he expressed the reason he felt bad was because "a kid died" in the bombing...This douche just couldn't get why people turned and attacked him on Twitter...Then, come Sunday he began to enjoy the role...Saying how he "Always wanted to be a heel in the WWE."

Jordan Kuruc felt bad that "a kid died" in the Boston bombing...Imagine this Jordan...You're a little girl...Ha! he does look like a bitch...Anyways...You're there, the bomb goes off...Your brother dies...Your mother suffers severe head trauma...Oh, and you lose your leg...Just imagine that...That's just one little girl's story...Now can you get why people are pissed...You got your 15 minutes for being a total fucking asshole...

I'm a dickhead, and I wouldn't have said that about a hockey game...Especially defending a piece of shit like Cooke...I want to wish pain and suffering on Kuruc....You know, like some awful shit...Like him and everyone he loves, get AIDS....But screw it...I'll rise above...You're fucking asshole, and everyone knows it....Oh, and thanks for giving me another reason to hate you're asshole city!

In other Hockey news, The New York Rangers fired their coach, John Tortorella...His abrasive style wasn't going to last much longer, even if the Rangers did beat the Bruins...Torts had his guys, and they bought into his system, and style he wanted them to play...Those that didn't, were bounced...Yet, he still found ways to shit all over the guys he had...The only people that got more shit were the media...So, this is why you hear no one arguing against his firing...He's a good coach...But shitting all over grown men is going to get old quick...I'm surprised it took as long as did before the players had enough...

But I have another question...Why is GM, Glen Sather not on the hot-seat...He's been with the Rangers for 13 years...He's had 6 coaches...The best the team has done is getting to one conference final...Now there is talk that he is looking at two of his old boys to be the next coach...Wayne Gretzky, who's first stint as a head coach wasn't a very good one...And Mark Messier...Messier's only coaching experience is coaching his son's pee-wee team...Yes, the fans would love it...Sure, some players might get a thrill out of it...But I don't think it's a good move...This team needs a proven coach...Not a couple of old super stars who are missing the spotlight...

-As for my weekend...It was pretty uneventful...Friday I was suppose to meet some old friends out for drinks...Sadly, I fell asleep with Molls while I was trying to get her down...

Saturday we had a baseball practice...The team is coming along well...Then we relaxed at home...Pizza, hockey, and a jam session...